Woman Suing Obamacare Exchange Dies

A Nevada woman taking part in a class-action lawsuit against Nevada’s Obamacare exchange contractor over coverage delays passed away Monday due to complications from her illness, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal.

Linda Rolain of Las Vegas, one of 150 Nevadans suing the Obamacare contractor, died due to complications related to a brain tumor, said a spokesman from the law firm litigating the class action suit, Callister, Immerman and Associates.

Rolain is the first patient taking part in the lawsuit to die from complications from an illness. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor in late 2013. She had delayed care for months while dealing with enrollment problems through the state’s Obamacare exchange, Nevada Health Link, her husband said in a press conference in mid-June.

The family says Rolain’s tumor was treatable last fall when diagnosed, but became fatal by this spring as she waited for the Obamacare exchange to communicate her coverage to the insurance company. Both Rolain and her husband’s health insurance took effect in March, according to the exchange, but the couple alleged that they were told the coverage wouldn’t be in effect until May, according to the Review Journal.

Attorney Matthew Callister filed the class action lawsuit in April after a Las Vegas man, Larry Basich, was charged $407,00 for care after suffering a heart attack, although he had purchased coverage and paid several monthly premiums. The Obamacare marketplace and its contractor Xerox had failed to properly communicate Basich’s coverage to the insurer.

Callister alleged in April that when faced with website flaws and a daunting queue of corrupted applications, state Obamacare officials and Xerox discussed dumping all the applications for coverage they had received and starting over, including those like Basich who had already paid their premiums. (RELATED: Nevada Obamacare Exchange Considered Dumping All Customers)

Nevada has since opted to allow the federal government to take over Obamacare enrollment for 2015 while it attempts to repair its state-run exchange for 2016.